Leonid Ivanovitch (communist, VP in charge of Intl. affairs), told the following tale in front of the Douma.

A pack of hungry wolves catches a hare. Just as they are about to eat him, the hare says, Stop, I can help you! I can bring you to a flock of sheep! The wolves consider - OK they say, lead on. The hare brings them to the sheep, the wolves devour some of the sheep, and the hare as well. Satisfied, bellies full, they contemplate the leftover remains of the hare. We should bury it, the wolves say, he helped us. They bury it.

What to write on his tombstone they wonder? “Here lies our friend the hare”? No, he helped us out but was our enemy - “Here lies our enemy the hare”? Well, they say, he wasn’t really our enemy either! Unanimously they decide on:

"Hizbullah and the Zionist regime of Sisi
Hizbullah has been quite favorable toward the Sisi regime, regardless of the latter vicious campaign against Gaza and the anti-Palestinian rhetoric of the regime media. There is now a Hizbullah delegation visiting Cairo and it it is not the first contact between Hizbullah and the Sisi"

The various militia have until noon on Friday to declare their intentions. “It’s a case of saying to your interlocutor ‘I am in’ and explaining where you are, so you are not targeted”, according to one diplomat involved in the process.

With Islamic State, al-Nusra Front and two other terrorist organisations excluded from the truce under the terms agreed between the US and Moscow, the diplomat says the aim is to draw up a map “showing the co-ordinates of where the bad guys are”, so the agreed territory can be regarded as a legitimate target for Russia, the Syrian Army, Syrian Kurds and other forces to attack once the ceasefire is in place.
...
Indeed, some argue a byproduct of the terms of the ceasefire is to put pressure on rebel forces to detach themselves from al-Nusra.

"Meanwhile, Israeli army launches a suspicious military drill near the Gaza Strip amid increasing speculations over the past days. Observers believe that Israel’s perennial threat against Gaza and the sky-rocketing popularity and strength of other Palestinian factions —who remain loyal to the Palestinian cause, e.g. Islamic Jihad—made Hamas leaders to maintain the unity and forestall the imminent collapse. To remedy the situation, it is imperative that certain controversial figure be unseated."

And MW wonders:
"It is not hard to imagine Obama secretly giving Erdogan the greenlight, and then pulling the rug out from under him as soon as his troops crossed over into Syria. A similar scam was carried out in 1990 when U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, April Glaspie, gave Saddam Hussein the nod to invade Kuwait. The Iraqi Army had barely reached its destination before the US launched a massive military campaign (Operation Desert Storm) that forced Saddam to speedily withdraw along the infamous Highway of Death where upwards of 10,000 Iraqi regulars were annihilated like sitting ducks in a vicious and homicidal display of American firepower. That was the first phase of Washington’s plan to overthrow Saddam and replace him with a compliant Arab stooge."http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/02/24/regime-change-in-ankara-more-likely-than-you-think/

"TEHRAN (FNA)- Azaz has lately been at the center of the Syrian conflict. Kurdish forces need the city to seal the last stretch of the porous Syrian-Turkish border, while the Turks, according to adviser to the Syrian government Abdul Kadir Azuz, want Azaz to be able to provide assistance to radical groups fighting against al-Assad.

The Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) are reported to be staying on the outskirts of rebel-held Azaz. Turkish forces have shelled the YPG positions in the northern Aleppo province, particularly in this area, to prevent the Syrian Kurds from liberating the strategically important city.

'Azaz is a key city on the way from Turkey to Syria, which allows Erdogan to meddle in Syria's internal affairs," Abdul Kadir Azuz told RT. "He wants to gain a foothold in Syria by controlling Azaz. If Erdogan loses Azaz, he would neither be able to influence the situation in Syria nor provide assistance to terrorists.'

This is the only reason why Azaz is so important to Turkey, he added. The city, according to Azuz, has no historic or economic significance.

'Ankara provides aid to terrorist groups through checkpoints on the border with Aleppo. The Turkish government is able to provide supplies and medical aid to terrorists since it controls the checkpoints,' he insisted.

Last week, Rodi Osman, the head of the Syrian Kurds' representative office in Moscow, told RIA Novosti that as many as 2,000 Islamist fighters crossed into Syria from Turkey through Azaz.

Turkey has been shelling Kurdish-held areas since February 13 in a controversial move that has been condemned by Russia and the United States. Both countries view the Kurds as one of their primary partners in tackling Daesh.

Many countries have called on Turkey to seal the border with Syria to prevent Daesh and other terrorist groups from smuggling fighters, weapons and supplies in and out of the war-torn Arab country. Unlimited access to resources delivered to the battlefield through Turkey has largely been seen as key to the terrorist group's resilience and longevity.

Ankara has so far failed to deliver on its promise, while the Syrian Kurds are close to taking the border regions under control."

Vollmert subscribes to Süddeutsche Zeitung, Iserlohner Kreisanzeiger and the newsweekly Focus. He buys a copy of SPIEGEL at the newsstand every Saturday. "There must be a reason why the media are losing circulation," he says. "The average Joe has a keen sense for when he's being taken for a ride." Vollmert accuses the media of having lost sight of the interests and concerns of its audience. The teacher shortage, poor hygiene in hospitals and a growing number of burglaries -- journalists ignore all of these issues, says Vollmert, because they have blockaded themselves in their ivory towers. "They don't listen to what's happening down below."
snip

'I'm No Conspiracy Theorist, But...'

Philipp Karger, a 33-year-old engineer, hardly gets any of his news from classic media anymore. "It's obvious that you get your information from above," he says, citing coverage of the New Year's violence in Cologne as evidence. The fact that the media took so long to report on the ethnic background of the presumed perpetrators was the result of instructions from the federal government, or at least an organization affiliated with the government, says Karger. He is so sure of himself that he reacts with genuine surprise when his accusation is rejected. "I thought that had already been officially confirmed," he says. According to Karger, the media had to respond as they did so as not to undermine Merkel's refugee policy.

@ GoraDiva 14, thanks for the Pepe link, I was wondering what happened to Asia Times, obviously it has gone downhill. Pepe explains at the end of the link he is fundraising at Kickstarter to fund a new blog. Lights going out too many places over last few years. Thank god for MOA.

james @ 16: Thanks for the link. A lot of articles seem to miss the fact that the U$A, and their minions are locked in, what they see, as a life and death struggle for a Unipolar World. It's economic in nature. The Empire and it's minions must quash the competitors to their hegemony, it's what corporations do, capture market share. Russia/China/Iran, an anyone else believing in a Multipolar world must be stopped.

how could we let it pass when 3m innocent bystanders were slaughtered like scacrificial lambs ?the mastermind of the genocide are still at large , worse still, they'r still committing genocides with total impunity !

JOHNNIE CARSON, U.S. ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR AFRICAN AFFAIRS,*CHINA IS A “VERY AGGRESSIVE AND PERNICIOUS ECONOMIC COMPETITOR WITH NO MORALS.*

--------------------------------------
how fukus conspired to plant *evidance* and used their global media network, the socalled cia's mighty wurlitzer to frame indon leftists for an allage armed uprising and send 3m innocent bystanders to their grisly death.
----------------------------------------

The techniques of the Indonesian destabilization were classic: CIA agents planted caches of arms that would then be "found" by Indonesian police under the watchful eye of the alerted media. Along with the arms would be all kinds of forged documents proving that the Communists were fomenting a violent uprising. [3]

* Two weeks before Gestapu, a story to this effect also appeared in a Malaysian newspaper, citing
Bangkok sources which relied in turn on Hong Kong sources.106 Such international untraceability is the
stylistic hallmark of stories emanating in this period from what CIA insiders called their "mighty Wurlitzer," the world-wide network of press "assets" through which the CIA, or sister agencies such as Britain's MI-6, could plant unattributable disinformation. [2]

the cia is known to have had a large store of chinese weapons at this time, which were used for a variety of purposes, including such "incriminating" schemes. [4]

*u.s. officials were particularly interested in linking the september 30th plotters to beijing. they helped to spread stories about china’s alleged involvement and reported on caches of weapons purportedly “discovered” by the indonesian army with the hammer and sickle conveniently stamped on them .
[rings a bell, passports found on 911 site, passports found in get away car in the paris attack etc......?]

“we have bonanza chance to nail chicoms on disastrous events in indonesia,” green wrote the state department. [sic !]

he urged a “continuation [of] covert propaganda” as one of the “best means of spreading [the] idea of chicom complicity,” an allegation still being put forth by former u.s. officials forty years later.22 such efforts, intended or not, also encouraged attacks against indonesia’s indigenous chinese minority and businessmen* [1]

------------------------------------

[sic !]
apparently, this is all in a day's work for a typical murkkan *ambassador* like green !!!

The Multipolar world is one in which there are more than private finance making all the big decisions like now. China created the AIIB because Asia is tired of sucking hind tit for infrastructure investment monies. The other part of the dynamic around Multipolar is DEBT which no one really talks about comprehensively..but pressure is building for a Debt Jubilee
@23 Jack Smith

My current personal equation has me voting for Jill Stein unless it is a Bernie/Donald race and then I may vote for Bernie.

@20 ben.. thanks ben.. it was what a few of us ( colinjames, grieved and etc) were talking about in a roundabout way on the previous thread.. i am predicting more war... wish i could see it different, but i can't... would be nice if it went into some frozen type place which is sort of what the ukraine looks like, but i don't anticipate that for syria.. too many first class meddlers who want to continue on with regime change under a different name.. europe continues to be f*ked under it's present leadership and that's not touching what the usa has in store once the election madness is over... ordinary people lose and kleptomania-cal plutocrats continue to prosper..

Harry @8, yeah the predetermined conclusion is there. Still it may turn out quite OK for Syria. After all, the US isn't really opposing Russia's actions.
James @ 16, "Why is the US so hostile to Russia?"
Well, the popular belief is that it's a propaganda ploy aimed at the global most gullible. Of course it also convinces thee & me that the US & Russia are on opposite sides. If we were to look at actions alone since before the Russian action began, we would have almost no basis to conclude that. I can't penetrate to the truth, so I try to keep an open mind.
---
I still think it possible the present targets are Turkey & Saudi Arabia-- at least for regime change. I suppose Iraq will continue partitioned for the sake of the oil. Russia turned over quite a portfolio on Erdogan to the UN; I suppose that could be useful as one of a set of ingredients.
---

Personally, I don't understand why filming cops can only be "protected" as free speech. These are public officials engaged in their public duties. Besides, don't we begin w the idea that all behavior is permitted-- unless there's a reason not to? Absurd to say you can't film cops unless you can construe it as free speech!

The court is actually upholding ARRESTING people for filming-- outrageous!

My current personal equation has me voting for Jill Stein unless it is a Bernie/Donald race and then I may vote for Bernie.

Regardless Dems or Repugs, the endless wars continue. Period!

Bernie is committed to Israel, so are the Clintons and Bushes. Total Palestinians destruction. Voting for Bernie is making sure all the West Bank, Golan Height and Gaza completely Israel.

Is that so difficult for you to understands?

Just return from a two weeks trip to Asia. USA yearning for war with China dragging Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia, The Philippines and Loa, including Japan, Korea and Australia to instigate China even as the wars in Afghan, Libya, Iraq, Yemen and Syria, Ukraine wars continue.

What do you propose Jack? I want to get rid of private finance and neuter inheritance/ongoing private ownership of property. What do you think needs to change and how do we get there from here? All I read from you is None of the Above. Who/what floats your boat?

My rational on voting for Bernie if it comes to that is the lesser of the evils, pure and simple. I do not want to live in a world led by Donald Trump and those like him.

Surprisingly Kerry was challenging the idea of a US manned safe zone in Syria by posing the question to the Senate committee 'Now are you ready to authorize that?' referring to the required 30,000 US troops.

The Republican controlled Senate is not yet willing to commit US troops who would be the prime targets of the Islamic State even if Russia and Syria agreed to this nonsense.

The take away at the end:
"
In short, policy is biased toward the rich. Diagnosing how this bias occurs is the key to prescribing remedies. It’s clear that lack of effective mobilization — in terms of voting and other political activities — is at the core of disproportionate representation. The overwhelming power of the donor class further hampers equal representation.
"

The self licking ice cream cone of control the global plutocrats have made for themselves is a crime against humanity.

The U.S. has shit its nest as regards Thailand. The last three U.S. representatives (they were/are not diplomats) in Thailand have/had serious foot in mouth disease. Thai/U.S. government relations are at a historic low.
Thailand and China are about to partner in H.S. rail systems and weapons systems. Thailand has previously bought American, but will not order U.S. fighters (F-16's) and is looking elsewhere for other procurements.

A pack of Republican presidential candidates catches a Rabbinical Prepper napping in the park. Having had nothing to sharpen their teeth on all day except stump speeches, they decide to eat the Rabbinical.

Just as they are about to eat him, the Rabbinical says, "Stop, I can help! I'll bring you to a flock of American Sheep, and talk them into being your feast!! "

The Republicans consider - "OK they say, lead on".

The Rabbinical brings them to a murmuring crowd of agitated American Sheep, then preaching up a storm about Guns and Bibles, Right to Life and Deregulating the Internet, and closing with a thundering, "Read My Lips!" he delivers the now completely stupified and docile, hope-and-chains-hypnotized Sheep into the Republican's hands.

The Republicans of course devour the Sheep, and in their feeding frenzy, devour the Rabbinical, as well. Sated and satisfied, bellies full, they contemplate the leftover bones of the Rabbinical.

There, fixed it for you. Thailand is not a democracy. Anyone wondering about the outcome of the Thai:China deal for the Thai people should Google Sukarno and Timor, or Marcos and Mindanao. China and the USA are butt buddies when it comes to hegemonic Tibetanization.

You already are. The difference is whether you want to be stuck listening to Bernie Sanders and Dick Gregory chewing their sweaters every night on TV, and selling you into the arms of the Zio Death Merchants and Climate Chains Hucksters as a 'shiney object' distraction.

"... In fact, the Vermont senator’s arguments were essentially similar to those of the other four candidates on the Las Vegas stage, all of whom sought, in one way or another, to distance themselves from the widely hated NSA programs while at the same time reaffirming their support for the military-intelligence apparatus.

“The argument that Snowden’s courageous stand is a crime deserving of punishment reveals far more about Sanders than his rhetorical denunciations of government spying…”

Sanders’ call for leniency in the case of Snowden rings false, since once in the clutches of the American criminal “justice” system, he would face the full vengeance of the state machine. And there are clear warnings. Chelsea Manning was tortured while in military custody, and is currently serving over three decades of jail time for leaking diplomatic documents to the whistleblowing website....."

James: Brother, to you and to the other war pron bots here on MoA, eager for the latest anthill battle of empire news, I'm afraid the future is much more benign than bellicose.

Mil.Gov has $4.2 TRILLION of your last retirement savings to spend in FY2016, savings that will never be coming back again. And each one of the 1000s US military bases and 10000s of US government offices are busy fighting tooth-and-claw, every day of every week of every year, to grow their mandate, to grow their staff-up, to increase their pensions for life, ...and October is fast approaching.

They have to spend their budget, or lose it to some other global Theocracidim~!! Can you imagine the pressure to spend, and the corruption that facilitates it? $4,200,000,000,000!

And for those who have never worked in Mil.Gov budgeting, or visited Defense.gov/contracts, please avert your eyes from the gnashing of fangs and the bloody entrails.

"...Rachel Corrie, a US peace activist, was killed by an Israeli bulldozer in the Gaza Strip as she tried to block the demolition of a Palestinian home. Her parents, Craig and Cindy, speak on the 10th anniversary of the killing of their daughter......

I'm sorry you're having difficulty understanding 3W credit-debt creation. Red Army or Blue Army, same internationalist global mafia in Beijing as in NYC as in Brussels, doing G-d's work, no doubt, 'uplifting' the Thai people, who own nothing anyway, before martial law.
Do you naively believe the Chinese are DONATING these resource plundering pipelines to the Thai people, out of Buddhist benevolence?!

You probably can't let Indonesia, Viet Nam, Cambodia, Philippines, ...and the radical terrorist islands of Grenada and the Falklands go, because now They've come for the US and the EU citizens.

The best thing to do is buy $500,000 in life insurance, wait six months, then text blog-rants while you jaywalk into the path of a speeding gravel truck. That way you don't have to endure Their ZIRP/NIRP killing fields tortures and mass migration herds. But talk to a counselor first. And be sure to pay your 2015 taxes and fees, so the miniscule amount of life insurance your family actually receives isn't blotted up by The Chosen.

Born a slave, died a slave, the few coppers you acquired in life shoveled up by Mil.Gov, the Rentiers and the Gas- and Grocerymen. Rahh!

I am sorrie for you too. You know so little of China's history. China have never invaded or conquered any countries since ancients times except skirmished with Vietnam after the Vietnam war.

The South China seas is Chinese domain since ancient time. Admiral Zheng He a Muslim eunuch (1371–1435) during China's early Ming dynasty. Zheng He commanded expeditionary voyages to Southeast, South Asia and Western Asia, Mogadishu, Maldives, Horn of Africa, Arabia.. and East Africa from 1405 to 1433. His larger ships stretched 400 feet in length (Columbus's Santa Maria, for comparison, was 85 feet).

Zhen He voyages 4 times to Malacca, Malaysia, The well he dug still existed today and I've seen it with my own eyes,

And the latest insult to intelligence to a docile inebriated American citizenry who don't apparently understand the candidates are preselected, their delegates are independently made for the most part, and the final vote is by a bought and paid for electoral college, comes the 'grading' of the candidtes, such as you might do in a grade school play.

Considering that Clinton ran her 2008 campaign -$35M into the red and ‘left the White House broke’, she should receive an A for grifting Karzai $5B stolen from US aid to Afghanistan by herself and Milliband, deposited directly into his Bank of Kabul in the interim during which Clinton made five trips shuttling courier bags of baled $100s back and forth to Kabul, before announcing her net wealth was $15,000,000, and an ‘anonymous donor’ paid off her bankrupt -$35M campaign debt.

And she should graduate Summa cum Laude for pulling off this grift while a Federal Cabinet member, without a single person other than her soon-to-be-dead Special Envoy to Afghanistan saying a word. None dared to call it treason, I guess. You wouldn’t want to end up like Holbrooke, dead on a slab at GWU of aortic dissection, in essence, his throat cut.

WTF does that have to do with plunging the Thai people $100Bs into perpetual credit-debt for a useless bullet train to Beijing, more useless Chinese fighter jets, and the massive exploitation of Thailand's last remaining hardwood forests and mangrove shorelines!? Do you think the Thai junta traded China arms for bougainvillea leis and elephant rides?

Frankly, I don't know why any foreign groups or powers would trust Washington, which has a long history of using and double-crossing its foreign policy tools, from the Cold War (e.g. Czech uprising) to Iraq (Shiites encouaged to revolt against Saddam Hussein, only to be left to twist in the wind after taking VOA and other American assurances at face value).

My reading of the mess in Syria is this: that the United States had nothing to gain by a decisive resolution in either direction, but everything to gain by prolonging an indecisive conflict.

If Assad was deposed, his replacement would likely be an Islamist government hostile to Washington. If the rebels were conclusively defeated, the Assad regime and its regional allies, all also hostile to American interests, would be able to stabilize and turn to the working of mischief.

So Assad was not deposed; nor were the rebels provided with the arms they needed to conclude the civil war. Instead, they were provided with enough assistance to keep it going, but not enough to win. The sudden profligate provision of anti-tank weapons, only after the Russians intervened, shows what really motivates Washington's geopolitical calculus.

Most of the alternative media have their basis in reports of the mainstream media, since they lack the journalistic and institutional resources to obtain original stories. They provide added value by juxtaposing a variety of mainstream source materials and by analyses which reach conclusions different from the mainstream media.

The lack of editorial oversight, professional training, and immersion in the culture of professional news reportage, is both a blessing and a curse: on the one hand, they are less constrained by editorial censorship and the more subtle professional and institutional pressures which condition a tendency to self-censor, and they are more ready to "think outside the box"; on the other hand, lacking inculcated habits of cross-checking of sources and independent research, they may be more gullible or prone to error; and being free to indulge personal biases, the "box" of conventional perspective may be replaced with a box consisting of their own narrow prejudices.

A good reader will make use of the best of both types of media, do his own additional research on top of this, and draw his own conclusions (tentative or otherwise).

7;AA is a commie,he hates religion.Hezbollah must play all sides,it is a designated terror org by the West.
Gerson at Wapo says Trumps nationalism is dangerous.
The scum Zionists,hypocrites to the last,as Zions nationalism is sacrosanct.

The Angry Arab, though a lefty (evidently forbidden in the US), rather hates everybody. He's nasty about everybody, including a great many you've never even heard of. That's what makes him such a good read.

"Isn´t it about time to write something b? Just anything really. Write about your dog or the matzo balls you eat, anything!!"

Amen to that! I´m so boooored i just cleaned both mine and my neighbors toilet just to have something else to think about. Then i popped in here again for the umpteenth time to check out the scene.Booooring, come on now b, our lives depend on you man!

"My reading of the mess in Syria is this: that the United States had nothing to gain by a decisive resolution in either direction, but everything to gain by prolonging an indecisive conflict."

Mmm, the conflict seems to be decisive. Latakia province is on the verge of being declared rebel-free. E.Aleppo incl. the Thermal Plant has been cleared, there is an offensive on to Raqqa, and barring the temp. irritation on the Ithryia rd, Tiger Forces are probs going to push to the Euphrates i order to cut off Raqqa from Turkey. Alleppo itself is about to be encircled. Then there are local advances in Darya and Daraa. But I guess you knew that.

@15 Roger asked, "Does anyone have suggestions for what the outsiders really WANT as a Desired Outcome in Syria?"

This isn't clear but here is my take

1. Removing the sovereignty issue. Syria is a sovereign nation. You aren't supposed to bomb/invade sovereign nations without permission and, looking into the future, Russia would likely veto at the UN. Perhaps better to see Syria smashed back into the stone age like Iraq & Libya. There are fewer rules about bombing a bunch of stateless rebels, quickly re-cast as the bad guys, at one's whim. More of an intermediate goal then an end-point until you consider...
2. Israel. Israel has been very quiet but they could be the big winners from all of this. They gain big-time from point (1); no more Syrian Arab Army to worry about to their north; free bombing runs against the rebels if they get too close to the fence; Hezbollah isolated from Iranian supplies. Then there is the Golan which they would acquire in perpetuity (no more Syria to press a competing claim). Obviously US efforts follow from the equation interests of US congress = priorities of Israeli lobby.
3. Turkey. I don't see this as such a biggie but Turkey also stands to acquire territory and to suppress the Kurds a bit. Turkey is the "great white hope" for the middle east, secular-ish, obedient-ish. Throw them a bone and call the favour in later.
4. Oil pipelines etc. I'm really not an expert. Maybe?

What somewhat confuses me is the attempt to push the Sunni-Shia equilibrium strongly in favour of the Sunnis: one of the reasons why the Saudis need the yanks is for protection; no threat, no need for protection.

"Some 30 Saudi Air Force officers with a cargo of military equipment have arrived to the Incirlik military airbase in Turkey to prepare for a joint air campaign in Syria. The deployment of Saudi fighter jets is expected in next 24 hours.

More than 50 Russian officers with peacekeeping experience have arrived to the ceasefire center in Latakia. Thanks to their intermediation, several armistice agreements have already been signed with a number of formations in northern Latakia province. The officers also started to send humanitarian aid to the areas freed from the terrorists."

Already before the proposed ceasefire comes into effect, a number of participants in the conflict have announced their joining the truce regime, the foreign minister said.

“The Syrian government has already done it,” he said. “I am confident that those who are fighting in Syria at the invitation the legitimate authorities of the Syrian Arab Republic will do the same,” he added.

“The Democratic Union Party and other groups of Syrian Kurds have already done this,” the minister continued. “This has already been done by many groups from numerous units of Syrian opposition in the east of the country, including Sunni groups that have contacted Russian military,” he added.

Jack Smith, given the large number of comments you write here, you should show some consideration to b and the rest of us by using HTML links rather than pasting raw links into your comments. Creating an HTML link is really quite simple, and there's an example you can use, just above the box where you enter comments (it reads "Link to ACLU"). Thanks!

Many here are conspiracy theorists, and I agree there is an overarching conspiracy to keep the rich in power ... But in a nation (and Western world) firmly under control by and for great wealth -- macro control, so to speak -- bad 'micro' ideas like 'Hillary Clinton, Presidential Candidate' can occasionally stress the system. Makes you think maybe there is some free will, but it's just the Clinton egos and the lack of a need to control every detail. After all, whoever wins, even Bernie, capital has complete control of major media, Congress and the Supreme Court, which will successfully protect the wealthy from a Bernie presidency. Bernie's naivete especially on imperial policy would also help, because I would guess the imperialists would make sure he was bogged down in foreign policy artificial crises immediately and continuously.

Nonetheless, I'd probably vote for him if he were running against any of the Republicans. If he won, the thoroughgoing resistance to Bernie by capital and its lackies would create many excellent teaching moments for millions of Americans. Things are moving rapidly in the States, and all that teaching and learning might soon be practically useful.

"If he won, the thoroughgoing resistance to Bernie by capital and its lackies would create many excellent teaching moments for millions of Americans."

If, this were to be, would it be equivalent to President of the United States Jimmy Carter sitting in the Rose Garden while he was ignored by the press, the Congress, the people? Then he gets backdoored by Iran and the Rethugs and actor Ronald Raygun is recast to play the part of President of the United States of America. Are we talking about that type of 'teaching moment?'

I’m not saying that Turkey has lost its mind and is poised for war, but the posture in Ankara is very strange and could lead to surprises,” he said. “What’s happening in Syria is a question of survival for Erdogan, so it is not possible to rule anything out.”

This document, which general Qiao Liang has allowed us to publish, was delivered at the University of Defense, China’s top military school,
where the general is in charge of the education curriculum for the officers. The speech therefore must have the endorsement of the leaders
of the school and ultimately also of the president of the Military Commission, Mr. Xi Jinping.

Allepo supply road was cleared from ISIS, now mop-up and demining operation under way. ISIS lost a lot of elite soldiers, but so did SAA. Iranians and Hezbollah also participated in de-blocking of the vital road, one Iranian IRGC colonel died as well.

Saudi Arabia is suffering from a persecution complex. It feels that the whole world is turning against it after decades of honeymoon and indifference to the Kingdom human rights abuses.
Now semi-democratic and Shia Iran is becoming the world's new friend. Russia is becoming a strong power again and the USA are loosing interest in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia feels like an abandoned child. Therefore it is reacting by targeting the weakest and most vulnerable countries in the regions: Yemen, Syria and Lebanon.
The trouble is that Yemen and Syria have been able to resist and created more headaches for the kingdom. Contrary to Yemen and Syria, Lebanon has a strong support from the USA and the EU. I will need to change its dependence on the Gulf "easy" money and get closer to Iran, Europe, and Russia.
If they kicked then out, the GCC won't find it easy to replace the Lebanese entrepreneurship that have contributed to their country development. Again they'll be the losers.

Holy Shiite! Wonder what the Pentagramagon & their CIA bosses think about the 1,000,000 man march in Baghdad?

"BAGHDAD, Iraq—Nearly one million Iraqis took to the streets of Baghdad Friday morning to protest against corruption and the government’s backtracking on reform plans, as called by Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr."

Bernie has got to get over the hurdles of moneyed insiders in the Democratic Party first. All the daylight robberies like super-delegates and fixed coin tosses might somehow still steal the candidacy to Shillary "we came, he died" Clinton.

Crazy John Kasich now wants USA to arm Ukraine, really? Another failed state would benefit us how?

As for Bernie, I am convinced, nothing will change regarding the ME regime change policies of the neo-cons. I am tired of the ongoing meme of demonizing all Shiites and arming all Sunnis, EXCEPT of course the Palestinians.

No, b's silence is not "deafening". He's been pretty regular, since he gave up his temporary abandonment of the blog some years ago. I still have the CD of the blog he sent out at that time. I guess he managed to make a deal in his life that permitted him to take it up again. We're all grateful. Still, people have lives, and you can't complain if sometimes posts are scarce.

"...The exercise's official Dira al-Watan (Nation Shield) media channel has not stated how many personnel are involved, but judging by its media releases, the exercise is a modest affair compared to 'Bright Star 2000', which was held in Egypt in 1999 and involved around 73,000 troops from 11 countries..."

'Only' 73,000 troops and armor. I guess there really WAS nothing to worry about. Or is there:

Hmmm. All the Gulf states have issued travel bans for their citizens on Lebanon. The Saudis just pulled their $4bn aid package from Lebanon because they were getting too cozy with Hezbollah (read: Iran). Maybe the Turkey/Saudi invasion of Syria is really going to be the long-awaited Israeli land-grab into both southern Lebanon and beyond the Golan further into Syria? You know: terrorists and all. FWIW, Turkey said it has no plans with Saudi Arabia to invade Syria. Except to attack dangerous terrorists (like the Kurds).

Four F-15s (finally...) and a few dozen ground support personnel. They use far more firepower against unarmed civilians in Yemen, but that's assuming they are actually flying and not Israeli pilots flying their RSAF F-15s FOR them like they supposedly are in Yemen.

These F-15s are probably free because the UAE finally pulled their troops from the failed invasion of Yemen. No need for the war there any longer anyways - the UAE announced the arrangement of a 100 year lease for Yemen's Socotra Island. Signed by Yemen's ex-president Hadi (he quit a couple of years ago). The 100-year lease is news-speak for the U.S.'s coveted permanent, land-based aircraft carrier naval base to guard Saudi and Israeli, er... U.S. oil interests at the entrance to the Gulf of Aden. Apparently the next U.S. land-grab will be for the Bab al-Mandeb straits. Jeeze... this just never get's old, does it?

Friday fun: We have, FWIW, Zaid Fadel presenting his translation of a 'secret' letter obtained from somewhere, apparently from senior Saudi commanders to Prince Muhammad bin Nayef: [Potential bias warning: Zaid is quite fond of referring to Saudis as a 'clan of apes']

"...sending forces to Syria is going to result in convulsing our national stability followed by extremely dangerous consequences. Thus, this will need more study. We hope Your Highness will adopt what you see as appropriate for the national interest..."

Original in Arabic apparently sourced from social media and appears here: here on the 16th of Feb.

Shias are historically progressive and revolutionary. They always follow the religious leader that they chose for his religious and political credentials. Sunnis are warriors and merchants historically ruled by religiously conservative and authoritarian family dynasties.
That's the difference we still see now between Shias and Sunnis.
This is why there has been a enduring revolution in Iran but there will never be a revolution in Saudi Arabia as it is stuck in a rigid and obsolete system with no way out.

This document, which general Qiao Liang has allowed us to publish, was delivered at the University of Defense, China’s top military school, where the general is in charge of the education curriculum for the officers. The speech therefore must have the endorsement of the leaders of the school and ultimately also of the president of the Military Commission, Mr. Xi Jinping.
Heartland, http://bit.ly/1Tc3Yn3
Posted by: Noirette | Feb 26, 2016 1:28:23 PM | 85

Thanks. Most interesting theory I've read for a few years. It made so much sense that I'll have to go through it with a fine-tooth comb to find the flaws...